


Thank You For Asking

by LadyHatake



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Confusion, Dab's artwork, Evan's geeky awkwardness, Family, First Love, Fluff, High School, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, M/M, davan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-23 09:38:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16616501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyHatake/pseuds/LadyHatake
Summary: Evan, for all his scientific views of the world and mathematical frames of thought, now found himself wishing that he was artistic enough to paint his best friend, as Dab so often painted him. Evan didn't have a voice for singing, but he wanted to sing; didn't play any instruments, but wanted to compose music for all the wonderful, lovely, horrible emotions he suddenly found himself being bombarded with.It was hell.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Short chapter ahead! Just trying out the Phandom for the first time, testing the waters. I can't get enough of Davan! They're so adorable, and the ship fics are so cute but there aren't enough of them. I've had this chapter and half of the next one written since like May, but I've just now gotten around to editing it and making it post-worthy. The story will also probably be around five or seven chapters.

Evan sat on the side of the school, feeling but not pulling the soft grass under his fingers. His afro'd head bobbed lightly in time to a track he was listening to on his sPod, as he watched the other high schoolers file out of the front of the building. Some in a rush, some talking loudly, others laughing and taking their time. 

The mocha-skinned teen was now tapping his pencil against the pages of his calculus text, unenthusiastically writing out a few numbers and symbols. He'd gotten distracted after a soccer ball had bounced past near him a few minutes ago, and he'd gotten up to kick it (awkwardly) back in the direction of the soccer team currently practicing a short distance away. After that, he hadn't seemed to gather his concentration back, even if his fingers usually solved equations like they were on autopilot. He had instead put on some classical music to help him focus, but it didn't seem to be working. 

Today, the boy was wearing gray bremuda shorts, with a gray button-up and a red blazer; none of which went together splendidly, but who ever said he had a fashion sense? He was more about the practical side of things. As long as he looked descent, he didn't have a lot of time to worry about style. It was just...another one of those things that contrasted Evan so sharply to the world around him. 

It was summertime in Willow Creek– actually, it seemed to always be summertime in Willow Creek, with little weather to speak of other than the occasional rain or the even rarer thunderstorm. Fall and winter seemed to only last for the blink of an eye before summer surrounded their little town once more. Evan knew it wasn't possible to just skip seasons but...defying logic was one thing Willow Creek did well. 

The last thunderstorm that came through last year had resulted in Dab's dad being struck by lightning while washing dishes at three in the morning. Evan knew because his parents had been at the Howlter house while Dab had been camping with him across the street. 

Washing dishes...at three in the morning. While Evan's parents were over. Who knew what those four got up to in the dead of the night? 

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" 

Evan snorted as a gangly teen in a blue jacket and bunny slippers plopped down next to him.

"I'm sure you've been looking really hard in the entire three minutes since school let out."

"You're lucky your homeroom teacher is cool." Dab grumbled, pulling up some grass and scattering it all over Evan's notebook, to a resigned look from the taller boy. "He always let's you go early." 

"He's alright." Evan shrugged, then stood up, stretching as he did so. Dab stood as well and picked up Evan's texts and notebooks for him, helping him pack them away into his practical book bag. Dab then sighed contently, sticking Evan's pencil behind his own ear as his taller friend asked, "So, hey, you still feel like coming over today?"

"Yeah, totally." Dab grinned brightly, making something halt in Evan's chest. Did he have to smile like that _every_ time? "Just let me run home for a bit, I have to help my mom with something." 

"Okay, cool." They agreed amongst themselves and made idle chat on the way home. 

"So something weird happened today." Dab commented suddenly. They'd been walking for a minute in peace before he'd spoke. "Geoffrey Landgrab II just started talking to me out of nowhere. I know it's not that weird, but...it's weird. To me. The last time he talked to me was when he yelled at me for tripping over his foot in the science hallway a few months ago– something about his shoes being expensive." 

"Well you are popular with the preppy kids." Evan nodded, recalling with a bit of irritation the exact incident Dab had just spoken of. "I'm surprised he hasn't talked to you before now."

_Who wouldn't want to talk to you?_

"I take offense to that, some people call me preppy." Dab leveled a playful glare at Evan from just beside him. "I am _not_ preppy."

"Whatever." Evan chuckled, slowing as they neared Dab's house. "Geoffrey's not coming over is he?" 

"Well, he shouldn't, no one invited him." Dab snickered. "Usually the only time he comes around is when my dad throws one of his parties. It's like the whole Landgrab clan shows up, then." 

"I like your dad's parties." Evan mused. He did, though he couldn't stand to stay there for more than fifteen minutes at a time without retreating to Dab's room (or even, on fewer occasions, Dalien's) for some quiet. 

"Yeah, but you can't stand being around all the people for more than a few minutes." Dab hummed, mirroring Evan's thoughts and slinging an arm around his friend's broad shoulders. Dab was just an inch or so shorter than him, which (Evan could admit) was rather satisfying, since Dab had always been the taller one throughout their childhood. Had always been ahead of Evan in almost every way, it seemed. "So I'll see you later then? Should be an hour or so." 

"Yeah, I'll see you." Evan waved a hand as they parted ways. 

Then Dab was heading off across the street to his house and Evan was continuing down the sidewalk towards his own, which was quite a bit larger than the Howlters'. It was large, slightly barren in Evan's eyes, and very modern, but it was home. When they were little, he and Dab used to love the largeness of it, as it meant more room to run and play, but as Evan got older (and however much he loved his home) he began longing for something...more.

What he really meant, Evan would admit to himself as he climbed the stairs to his room, was that he longed for the atmosphere that always surrounded the Howlter home. His house may have been large, clean and luxurious, but the Howlter house was interesting, full of memories, and so homey it made his heart ache. 

"Hi honey!" Evan's mom called from her room across the hall when she seen him walk past. 

"Hey mom." 

"How was school today?" 

"The same as every other day, Mom." Evan replied as he toed off his shoes at the entrance to his room. His dad was always telling him to leave his shoes at the front door, but neither he nor his mother ever listened to him. Dab was actually the only one who ever took off his shoes at the door (kind of a mute point, since he always wore those bunny slippers of his). 

"Okay, honey." 

Evan lied down on his bed and placed his hands over his face without closing the door. What was he gonna do? He _hated_ feeling like this.

Lately, every time Dab gets close to him, Evan's heart seemed to be put under arrest...or...something just slightly less dramatic. 

When his best friend got close, Evan found himself holding his breath, felt his stomach get fluttery and light, like every time he was forced to stand up and give a presentation in front of the class. Really, as often as it had been happening, Evan would find the whole situation rather annoying once his heart had settled back down. For practically sixteen years, he'd spent almost all his free time with that boy, and hadn't encountered any kind of problem with his company, until...

Now, Evan admitted, still staring up at his high ceiling, where his revolving fan was barely turning. Evan found himself both hating and enjoying the feelings he got around Dab. The boy next door, his childhood friend, his _best_ friend. His very best friend...

And now, his... _crush_? 

Evan placed his hands over his face and groaned, wanting to curl up in a ball and stay there. 

How could that be? Evan told himself he wanted these feelings to go away; more than anything. Evan knew _logically_ that he shouldn't even try bothering with love of any kind. 

No, that wasn't right...he loved his family. He loved Dab, of course he did, how could he not? He was like a brother to Evan. 

No, that wasn't right either. Evan didn't even have words to describe what he'd been feeling as of late...it was _that_ strange. Obviously, growing up, he'd always wanted to be around Dab, because they were best pals. Inseparable, and Evan felt comfortable enough saying that Dab had wanted to be around him just as much, always including Evan in the games proposed by other kids; always dragging Evan along to hang out with people only Dab knew. Evan had never felt left out– not once. Now, there were these new feelings that Evan blamed entirely on his new teenage body, and new, blossoming hormones. 

He found himself...wanting to be _close_ to Dab. Was that even a thing? Of course, he and Dab had slept in the same bed before, quite often actually, and Evan now found this a blush-worthy prospect. Evan, for all his scientific views of the world and mathematical frames of thought, now found himself wishing that he was artistic enough to paint his best friend, as Dab so often painted him. Evan didn't have a voice for singing, but he wanted to sing; didn't play any instruments, but wanted to compose music for all the wonderful, lovely, horrible emotions he suddenly found himself being bombarded with. He...wanted to write poetry for him...was that weird? 

It wasn't even that Evan was having indecent thoughts about his best friend. Although, the more he thought about it, the nicer Dab's inherent physical features became. 

It was hell. 

"Hey Ev, you wanna help me with some of these papers? I have a deadline to meet at the end of this week, and I'd like to finish a little early." His mom called suddenly from down the hall, jarring Evan from his thoughts.

"Okay mom, give me a sec." Evan replied, sitting up and shrugging off his blazer as well as his shirt, hanging up the red garment in his closet and throwing the simple button-up in his dirty clothes bin. Then, he pulled on a sunflower yellow shirt that really, well...showed off his ethnicity. His mom had told him several times that yellow was a nice color on him, at the same time his dad said it hurt his eyes. 

For those reasons exactly, Evan had decided to wear it around the house as much as possible. 

"I've been thinking of taking a trip to Wits End tomorrow, so if I finish, we might be able to stay the whole day. Maybe even the weekend, if you want." 

"Can we go to the planetarium?" Evan asked as he plopped down on one of his mom's computer chairs around her desk. Pulling out a pair of reading glasses from his mom's junk drawer, he placed them on his nose and pulled up his chairs "That was fun last time."

"Sure was." A bright voice pipped from the hall, startling Evan enough to make him jump in his seat and whip around to face the door. 

"You know what else was fun?" Dab asked, holding up two cans of sparkling water with one hand, one already open in the other. He was smiling, of course. "Seaworld was fun." 

"I love that place." Evan's mom agreed, smiling brightly as she took one of the offered can's of sparkling water. "Thank you Dab. I'm assuming this is from your mom?"

"She's on one of her health kicks. Next week it'll be all spare ribs, lasagna and take-out while we recover." The teen shrugged, then grinned as he saw Evan sitting next to his mom, looking so professional. "Whats up, Ev?" 

"Dab." Evan swallowed, suddenly aware of his glasses and how stupid he must look just sitting there in his mom's office. "I thought you said you'd be a while." 

"Dalien was helping mum with cleaning out the jacuzzi already when I got back. I told him I'd do it, but he wanted to, he's weird like that. Your dad let me in." Dab let himself in and came to plant himself right on Evan's lap, much to the chagrin of the taller boy who tensed and sputtered in shock. Meanwhile, Eliza Pancakes only chuckled lightly and shook her head. 

"Well Evan, I guess you're excused." She smiled and waved her hand a bit. 

"W-what?" Evan asked, still red in the face and trying not to shift under Dab's weight. There was no other chair in the room, so Evan supposed sitting on him was the only logical thing to do in Dab's mind– he couldn't very well sit on Evan's mom, uninvited. Obviously, he thought Evan a pushover. 

And he was right. 

"N-no, mom it's okay! You were supposed to finish early, remember?" 

"Yeah, Eliza we can help!" Dab added enthusiastically, twisting in Evan's grip, just as Evan realized he was holding Dab up, preventing him from falling. The dark-skinned teen considered letting Dab go, but that would mean the boy would probably fall and hurt himself. Then, Evan thought, he'd never willingly hurt Dab, even if he was being embarrassing. 

"Dab!" 

"Don't worry, Eliza we can get it all done before tonight! What are you doing? Writing letters? Editing appeals? Faxing things?" Dab's eyes lit up as he swiveled he and Evan in their ( _their_ ) chair, to face the stack of papers previously in front of Evan. 

"That's alright hon, I wouldn't want to cut into your and Evan's play time." Evan made a choking noise from behind Dab's unruly mane of midnight hair. "Oh, that's right! What do you guys call it now...hanging out?" 

"We can hang with you." Dab smiled brightly, glancing back over his shoulder at Evan. "Right Ev?" 

"Yeah, sure, we can help!" Evan grunted, shifting under Dab's weight. Every movement in the comfy, rolling chair felt as though they were gonna fall over and his legs were beginning to go numb. "But dude, this chair wasn't made for two people, so–" 

"Oh, sorry." Dab stood, allowing precious oxygen and blood to flow back into Evan's legs. Then the raven-haired teen looked at the papers in front of him and rose his eyebrows. "Oh wow...Astronomy and Spectroscopy, huh? I guess I've never really seen your work before, Eliza. This is intense."

"Well, if you work in an area you love, it's more of a hobby than anything else." Eliza smiled, then pushed a highlighted text in Dab and Evan's general direction. "Generally, science texts need to be updated more than, say, English or Math textbooks, because our knowledge of the natural world is always growing. So the same goes for my lectures. Almost every time there's the smallest breakthrough, I need to tweak my lesson just that much to be up-to-date."

"What can I help with?" Dab's eyes lit up as he pulled up an ottoman from across the room and sat between Evan and his mother. 

"Well, you can begin transferring the highlighted text into note form, and into a powerpoint suitable for a lecture." Eliza slid the new, paperback book closer to Dab, pointing out a few highlighted sections. "This is a new teachers edition text, with the latest changes in past chapters for my Astronomy class." 

"So, um...notation form, now?" Dab tilted his head slightly in that puzzled way Evan found adorable. "Arrange it into a powerpoint?" 

"I think I can do that." Evan said swiftly, biting his lip to hide a happy smile. "Dab, if you want, you can use my computer to begin merging the old lecture with the new one, and I can tell you what to add in. College lectures are pretty basic in design, but you may be able to add some creativity to the font, and graphics where animations are concerned–" 

"Say no more! I'll do it!" Dab leapt up, dashing out of the room. "Your laptop's on your desk, right?!" 

"That boy." Eliza chuckled lightly, handing Evan her new textbooks, as well as her own personal laptop. She also placed a mega-storage jump drive on the table where Dab would place Evan's laptop. "He reminds me of you when you were younger. My baby used to be quite the enthusiast about a lot of things." 

"Well...some things change." Evan muttered, a little embarrassed as his mom reached over to lightly pinch his cheek. 

"Okay! Got it!" Dab hurried back into the room, almost missing the ottoman as he sat down. "You're password's still the same, right?" 

"H-hey! What do you mean 'is it the same'?" Evan demanded, mouth dropping open as Dab unlocked his account with a few clicks of his nimble fingers against the keys. "Dab! When did you-" 

"Oh please, Ev. You've had the same password for the last year and a half, I can only pretend to be ignorant for so long." 

"Oh, the more things change, the more they stay the same." Eliza grinned, patting Dab's wild mane of curly hair with one manicured hand. "Isn't that right boys?"


	2. In Full Color

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short chapter! Couldn't find a way to elongate it without messing with the outline of the next. 
> 
> Hope you're well! :)

The day after Dab had designed an "epic" powerpoint for Evan's mom, he and said teen found themselves eating lunch in their usual spot on a wooden bench. 

The bench sat under a big willow tree near the river that ran and looped through the length of the town. It was about a ten minute walk from the school, but well worth it. Willow Creek was littered with little spots like this, but none was quite as...aesthetic as this one. 

Indeed, Dab, much to the secret swooning of Evan, had drawn several upon several pictures of the dark-skinned boy under that tree. It was really nothing special, yet it was– and just like Evan had come to accept Dab's fascination with sketching and/or painting his likeness into works of art, he'd also come to love the ordinary yet special spot near the curve of the river. 

"Haven't you gotten enough sketches of me in that book of yours?" Evan asked, half-trying to sound exasperated, or even annoyed. Truth being told, he loved it when Dab expressed any kind of interest in him, and kicked himself internally for asking such a thing. A quiet but large part of Evan wished that Dab would never stop drawing him. 

"You're kidding. Of course not." Dab replied easily, and Evan's breath caught ever so slightly. Dab looked up at him with his piercing, captivating eyes and Evan swallowed discreetly as he subconsciously held still, not wanting to ruin the angle at which his charcoal portrait was currently being drawn. Though he thought it would matter little to Dab, anyway. 

_'Draw me like one of your French girls...'_ Evan thought playfully, then blushed slightly as he gave a quiet chuckle. 

"What's that look about?" Dab asked, and Evan blinked, realizing he didn't know what to say. 

"Just...thinking about your new best friend, Geoffrey." Evan decided to tease, lips taking on what wasn't a smirk, but not exactly a smile either. "You two seem to be getting close." 

"Weird, isn't he?" Dab asked, now hanging upside down from one of the tree's lower branches, using his converse-clad feet to brace his weight against another sturdy limb. Evan knew chastising him was useless– and as hard as Dab's head was, even if he fell, the ground had more to worry about in terms of damage than the boy did. "He's very chatty all of a sudden, you know? Never spoke a word to me before, but lately he's all over me." 

"Hm." Evan made a noncommittal noise, trying to act like he hadn't noticed. In fact, he had. Because he and Dab were always together– they even had nearly the exact same schedule – that meant that every time Geoffrey approached Dab, he also had to approach Evan. 

"I'm all about making new friends, but..." Dab paused in his sketching, eyeing Evan carefully. "I dunno. He kinda creeps me out, and I don't know whether or not that's a good thing." 

"How can that be a good thing?" 

"Well, you know. You were creeped out by Dalien for a while-" 

"That was different!" Evan interjected, "I actually had a little justification, then. It's not every day you meet someone as special as your little brother. Geoffrey isn't special, he's just some rich guy with fake hair." 

"Dalien really looks up to you, you know?" Dab asked, throwing Evan a soft smile, then snickering a bit as he slowly turned himself right-side up, keeping a careful grasp on the sketch pad. "And your totally right about the Landgrab hair cover-up, they're not natural blondes, they can't be. Not with those eyebrows." 

"Eyebrows defined like a cockroach's legs..." Evan muttered, in a voice he thought too low for Dab to hear. 

"Those highlights may be on fleek, but his eyebrow game is too strong." Dab murmured into Evan's ear suddenly, making Evan cover his mouth as he attempted to muffle a sudden fit of giggles. Dab looked softly delighted at the response, as he often did each time he made Evan laugh. 

"Okay, come on. We need to get to class." Evan shook his head as he stood up, blinking when something was held to his face. 

"Do you like it?" Dab asked, and Evan blinked again– observing and wondering if he could actually say what was on his mind. 

The sketch wasn't simply Evan sitting on a wooden bench...but showcased Evan and Dab, together, grinning brightly with what appeared to be a thick tropical forest and an old temple of some sort just behind them. Had Dab...had he actually drawn this in the last fifteen minutes? It was drawn in a perfect spectrum of white sketch paper, charcoal black, and definite grays in between. Evan ached to see what it would look like as a painting, in full color– and in real life. 

_'I love it.'_ Evan thought, expression softening quite noticeably. _'I want to see it in full color...Dab.....how_ would _you react if I said that out loud?'_ No one had ever, _ever_ made Evan feel such a way in a matter of moments, from such a simple gesture. 

That was exactly it, though, wasn't it? The gesture wasn't so simple. To Evan, at least... 

"Ev?" Dab asked, shoulders now crunched up a little, pulled toward his ears ever so slightly. Overall, a very adorable and sheepish look Evan didn't get to see often. "Uh...Ev? Do you...not...like it?" 

"Hm?" Evan hummed questioningly, and then shook his head, eyes widening, suddenly remembering himself. His train of thought had gone wandering off, getting lost somewhere in his scattered mind. "Oh! No, not at all! I-I mean... _no,_ I..." Evan could feel himself blushing, and cursed himself for it, but at Dab's suddenly lighter expression, he relaxed a bit. "Really, I....like it. A lot."

_'I think I like you...a lot more than I should.'_

Now red as a cherry from his stuttering, Evan cleared his throat lightly and ducked his own head at Dab's bright grin. "Um...where are we? In the drawing?" 

"I don't know." Dab beamed, looking at the charcoal creation somewhat adoringly even as he handed the sketchbook to Evan. "I haven't decided yet." 

Evan looked at the large page once more, looked at Dab, and chuckled lightly. It was just like Dab, to sketch them into some place he'd never seen before; somewhere he'd created in his mind. It made Evan long to be able to do the same...maybe then, he could express how he was feeling without the use of simple, awkward _words._

"It's beautiful." Evan commented lowly, and took one more, lasting look at the artwork before making to hand back the sketchbook, but changing his mind and keeping it instead. He knew Dab wouldn't want to ruin the page, which was now mostly charcoal, by closing the sketchbook, and would probably drop it off in his locker on the way to class. The sketchbook, he knew contained dozens of sketches of himself, some in graphite and some in pen or coloring pencils– and held even more artwork of he and Dab together. 

Evan even had his own file folder on Dab's computer at the Howlter residence, and several painted portraits of him lie under sheets in Dab's old trunk. It was never weird; Evan was probably the only one willing to hold still long enough for Dab to paint. That was probably the reason why. Plus, Dab also had an equally large collection of artwork dedicated to his family; it was almost like Evan (and in extension, his parents) were part of his family. 

The thought warmed Evan beyond compare, but also worried him slightly. Evan was a smart kid, if he may say so himself...even he could see that his feelings for Dab were not completely that of a brother's....still, he was undecided. All this didn't necessarily mean that his thoughts for Dab were _romantic,_ right? Evan blushed and turned away at the thought, picking up his school bag as he handed the sketchbook back to Dab. 

Of course not...but what if they _were_? If he ever resigned to having those types of feelings for the older boy....would Dab accept him? Would he be weirded out? 

Evan had watched those types of teenage dramas, (mostly on account of Dab and his family, but also his mother) and he knew that unrequited feelings were exactly the type of things that drove wedges between friendships. More than anything, more than _anything_ he wanted Dab in his life. Evan wanted to keep Dab as his best friend; almost as much as he wanted to keep being a best friend to Dab. Until he was sure that his raven-haired friend wouldn't throw him to the curb, or freak out about his feelings, he decided he wouldn't risk it. It just wasn't worth it. 

But...how long would it take to be sure? Would he ever stop being afraid? 

"Cheer up, Ev. What's with the frown?" Dab poked him in the face and Evan batted the offending hand away on reflex, still lost in thought. 

"Nothing. We should get moving or we'll be late." 

"Always so punctual." Dab stuck his tongue out at Evan playfully and the taller boy shoved past him equally as playfully as they made their way to the sidewalk.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed, drop me a line and say hi! :) Hope everyone's having a good November! Stay safe. 
> 
> Until next time!


End file.
